It's a boson! But we need to know if it's the Higgs

Which do scientists prefer – a standard-model Higgs boson or an alien?"I would be excited if it is a Higgs boson but perhaps not the standard-model Higgs boson," says Fabiola Gianotti, head of ATLAS, CERN's other large LHC experiment, who presented the team's Higgs results at the seminar. "Something that is a bit uncomfortable for the standard model." That would be a sign of physics beyond the standard model. Physicists currently know we need this, but don't know where to look. A non-standard-model Higgs would give them a clue. Incandela is more equivocal. "As experimentalists, we really want to observe nature. We have no pre-judgement," he says. "I am just excited that we have a discovery."

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As sure as eggs is eggs, it's a boson. But what kind? (Image: Mood Board/Rex Features)